Last Chance
by mrsProbie
Summary: Redone. Read "Watermark."
1. Orphaned

**Last Chance**

Chapter 1

It was a warm, sunny day, the nicest weather Hogwarts had seen in a while, but all I could think about was the news I'd received the night before. My parents had been killed. Not by Death Eaters, as one would think, but by an armed robber.

When I first found out, I was shocked. I'd always expected them to see my wedding, meet my kids, to be there at every milestone in my life. Then the sadness had set in.

"Hermione, I'm so sorry. I know how you feel. Losing Fred was terrible," Ron had said, but he hadn't really known. No, he hadn't. He didn't know what it felt like to have people you cared deeply about snatched from you at such a young age. Yes, Ron knew death. He knew it well- Remus, Tonks, Fred- but he still had his parents. He hadn't had them ripped from him at seventeen. No, Ronald would never know this pain.

I'm Muggleborn, so when it comes to legal matters concerning Muggles, I wouldn't come of age until eighteen, not seventeen. Therefore, according to my parents' wills, I was still a child. Since my guardian specified in their wills, my uncle Charlie Swan, lived in a different country, I had two options: stay and finish up my sixth and seventh years at Hogwarts, or go live with Charlie in Washington, in America. I decided that having everyone I knew try to comfort me would be too much to handle, so I opted to leave after lunch the next day. I would complete my remaining coursework long distance, but I would return for the graduation ceremony.

I couldn't take the silence any more, and rushed down to the Great Hall. I found Harry and Ron sitting with Ginny, goofing around and trying to act like being here after the war was completely natural, like Snape and Dumbledore weren't gone. Like the permanent scars left on both the castle and its occupants weren't there.

Moving to America was my last chance; I could never survive here.

"Hey, Hermione," said Ginny, and the boys looked up and smiled at me. "We were wondering when you'd be down here. There's only ten minutes left for breakfast."

"I'm not particularly hungry, anyway." To tell the truth, I was starving, but I felt like I would throw up if I tried to digest anything.

"Hermione," said Ron, a serious expression on his face. "You have forced me to eat before. Now I'm going to do the same thing to you." He pushed a plate of greasy bacon towards me. "Eat."

"I'll have some toast instead," I said weakly.

"Ron's right," Ginny said, handing me a plate piled with toast. "You didn't eat dinner last night. You know you'll have to eat at some point, right?"

"I know, I just..."

"Feel like you're about to throw up if you try eating?" Harry interjected. I looked at him gratefully.

"Exactly."

"I know the feeling," he replied.

"I'll bet," I muttered, feeling guilty. Here I was being depressed because my parents had died, while Harry had lost many more people important to him- his parents, Sirius, Dumbledore, and Remus. And Snape. He wasn't really important until _after_ he died, though, so I'm not sure that he counts.

There was a moment of silence, and then-

"What did you decide to do?" Ron asked.

I bit my lip. "I'm leaving."

"You can't!" Ginny said loudly.

"Hermione, please don't," Ron whispered.

Harry just sighed. "If that's what you think is right."

"Now you sound like you're channeling Dumbledore," I muttered. "I have to," I said, a bit louder. "I could barely stay here as it was. There's no way I could get over all the losses. What I need is a change in scenery, and that's what- what moving to America provides."

"Hermione," Ginny whispered. I tried to blink back my tears, but it didn't help.

"Ron, Harry, I need to pack up my things. Will you tell all the professors where I am?"

"Your bags have already taken care of, Miss Granger. They're sitting in your dormitory, just in case there's anything you should need before you leave." I turned around and came face-to-face Professor McGonagall.

"Thank you, Professor." I was too out of it even to ask if the house-elves had been made to do it.

As I walked up the stairs to my dormitory to get my book for Charms, I couldn't help but wonder what Forks was like now. The last time I'd visited my uncle, I was eight years old; there was no doubt it had changed in the nine years that had passed.

I glanced at the clock as I dug around for my book, and had to do a double-take. Five minutes late already, and I had to go down two floors to get to the classroom! I ran all the way there, and, surprisingly, managed to be only eight minutes late.

"I'm very sorry, Professor, I just-"

"Understandable, Miss Granger, under the circumstances, that you would be a bit tardy. Please sit. I will excuse your tardiness if you can tell me the difference between an invisibility charm placed on a cloak and an actual invisibility cloak."

Professor Flitwick smiled down at me from his podium as I spouted off, from memory, all of the differences listed in the textbook and then some- this was particularly easy because Harry, Ron, and I had used Harry's cloak many times, and knew what it could do. The rest of the class period passed as usual, with me taking notes while Harry and Ron goofed off- I briefly wondered how they would pass seventh year without my essays to copy. I'd have to remember to give them copies of everything. Or not, I thought, fighting the urge to grin evilly.

Thankfully, I'd also grabbed my bag while in my dormitory, so I didn't have to run back up to get my Potions book. Potions also passed as usual, with me working diligently over my cauldron while Harry and Ron each made attempts at doing it right in theirs. As I sent a few charms over to their cauldrons to fix their ingredients, I prayed they would be able to do everything right once I left. It's difficult to charm potions from overseas, you see.

Finally, it was lunch. My last meal at Hogwarts for another two months- until graduation, where all the graduating students would eat a formal dinner after the ceremony.

I sat with Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Neville. It was unusually quiet for us- generally, there would be laughter, teasing, and reprimanding galore. I wondered who would take my place as Head Girl, and whether I would still get the Head Girl award, even though I had to move in the middle of the first term. My thoughts were swirling around like this when suddenly, Neville said,

"We're all going to miss you, 'Mione. Even the ones that act like they won't. I passed Lavender and Parvati on my way to Potions, and they were talking about how sad it is that you have to go. And they didn't say it sarcastically, either," he added as I opened my mouth to retort.

"Thanks, Neville." I smiled weakly. "If you see Lavender and Parvati, tell them I say thank you to them as well. That was a really nice thing for them to say."

He nodded. "I'll pass that on."

There was a light tap on my shoulder, and I quickly turned around. I was surprised to see Draco Malfoy standing there.

"What do you want, Malfoy?"

"I wanted to apologize on the behalf of Slytherin house for Professor Snape's behavior in Potions. I think we all agree that Potter is the only one whose parents' deaths should be mentioned."

"Er... thanks, kind of."

As he walked back to his own table, I could hear Ron mutter, "Loopy." I kicked him under the table, but it was Harry that hissed in pain.

"Sorry, Harry," I apologized quickly. "I was aiming for Ron."

"What the hell?" Ron said loudly, causing several of the younger students to look around in shock. I laughed at his shock, and in half a second, Professor McGonagall was behind Harry, reprimanding Ron for his language. When she was done, she smiled sadly at me.

"Miss Granger, the train is here to pick you up. All your things from your dorm have been loaded into Compartment B for you, along with a few gifts from your fellow students. I'll leave you to say your final good-byes. I'll be waiting for you outside the Great Hall."

"Thank you, Professor."

I gave Ginny a big hug and a promise to write. Harry and Neville each got a kiss on the cheek, and Ron- he tried to kiss me on the lips, but on an impulse I turned my face so he hit my right cheek instead. "I'll see you guys at graduation. Maybe sometime you could come visit? If Charlie has a fireplace, and I think he does, I'll see if I can get Floo hooked up. I'll write as soon as I can!"

"Hermione, you're rambling," Ginny said, smiling sadly. As I stood up, Luna waved to me from the Ravenclaw table, and Ernie, Susan, and Justin waved from Hufflepuff. All that knew me in Gryffindor, and a few that I was pretty sure didn't, waved their good-byes. I'd never felt so loved in my life- or so violated. Just how the bloody hell did they all know my parents had died and I was leaving? I pushed the matter from my mind and focused on the fact that they liked me enough to be upset when I left.

Again, I wondered what life in Forks would be like. Living with Charlie. As far as I could remember, there was only one bathroom that had a shower in it- something I could hopefully change. American laws on wizardry in front of magic-aware Muggles were much more lenient, so I could easily do a little renovating... assuming, of course, I got Charlie's permission.

I exited the Great Hall and walked over to Professor McGonagall. "I'm ready."


	2. Explains

**Last Chance**

Chapter 2

My trunk and various bags were in the overhead rack in the compartment, and on the seat was a small stack of gifts from my close friends. As the train rolled out of Hogsmeade station, I slowly began to unwrap the presents.

Luna gave me a very _original _pair of earrings made of dried turnips. I vowed to wear them in public at least once. Ginny gave me a pair of earrings as well, albeit a little less strange. At first sight, they seemed to be simple loops, but on closer examination, I noticed that there was a message etched on the edges. Varying compliments could be read, and I decided that I would wear these whenever I wasn't wearing Luna's gift.

Harry, Ron, and Neville had given me a photo album filled with pictures- some still, some moving- of our group of friends. Some of them _had_ to have been taken while in a Pensieve, looking at various memories (like one of me punching Malfoy). It touched me that the three of them had put forth so much effort so I could remember them.

Hagrid gave me a basket of rock cakes. I was touched by his gift as well, but I was sure that he wouldn't mind if I skipped out on eating them.

The final gift didn't have a tag, which I took to mean it was courtesy of either Snape's portrait, or Dumbledore's. I carefully removed the wrapping paper and gasped at what I saw. It was a music box. I began to question if it was from Snape or Dumbledore. Neither of them seemed the type to give this kind of gift to cheer someone up. I wound it up and it played back the song. It was almost enchanting, exactly the kind of tune you get stuck in your head when you're trying to sleep.

I carefully pulled down one of my smaller bags and put all the gifts into it. I pulled out one of my books and fell asleep reading it.

The next time I opened my eyes, the sky was much darker. I changed into my Muggle clothes, put my robes in my trunk, and shrunk it. It would be a lot easier to go through security without that big thing to lug around. Plus, there were some rather odd-looking wizarding items that might freak out a Muggle (not to mention all the spellbooks and potions ingredients and- and my cauldron!).

Yes, it was definitely for the better that I shrank it and put it in one of my other bags.

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It was after about another hour of reading that the train pulled into King's Cross. It was easy to find Charlie through the smoke, he was the only- no, he wasn't. There was someone standing next to him. Had Charlie started dating, after all these years? Was I going to have to deal with-

"Hermione!" That voice was so familiar, but I couldn't place where I'd heard it before. "Hermione, do you remember me? Bella?"

My jaw dropped. "Bella! I haven't seen you since we were fifteen! And that was in Phoenix, not Forks! Did you move there, or are you visiting, or..."

She nodded. "I moved in with Ch- Dad a couple weeks ago. I'm really sorry about what happened," she added somberly.

"Yeah," I replied. "Thanks."

"So where's your big trunk?" Charlie asked. "I'll carry it out for you."

"I shrunk it." He blinked twice. "There are quite a few things in there that would have set off Muggle security at the airport, and most people don't use trunks any more, anyway, so the trunk in itself is suspicious. That, and it's a lot easier to Confund just the one person that wants to search me than it is to Confund a bunch of people that want to search my trunk."

"This magic could take getting used to," said Charlie quietly.

"I don't know," Bella murmured. "I've seen weirder." I raised an eyebrow at her, but she didn't say anything more. Charlie didn't appear to have heard her.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I yawned as we entered the house. Charlie looked over to Bella. "Bells, could you show Hermione to your bedroom?" He turned to me now. "Sorry, but the two of you will have to share. It's only for one more year, though."

"I could make it larger. Give me five minutes, and I'll be back down." Without waiting for a reply, I rushed upstairs to where I knew the room was. I used an internal enlargement spell (the same spell that Mr. Weasley used on the Ministry cars years ago to allow us all to fit) to make the inside of the room bigger, and to ensure that the change couldn't be noticed from the outside of the house.

By the time I was finished, the room was about twice as large, with an additional window (also unnoticable from the outside). I also duplicated all her furniture and moved the copies to my side of the room. I raced back down the stairs and nearly dragged Charlie and Bella back up.

I never miss a chance to show off my handywork now the war is over. "You might be a little shocked by what you see, but trust me, it's completely unnoticeable from outside."

Bella's jaw dropped, then she broke into quiet laughter. "Wow."

Charlie looked impressed. "I wish I had you here back when we remodeled the police station a few years back," he said. I smiled at the praise.

"Hey, Hermione," Bella said after Charlie left the room. From what I could remember, he wasn't prone to hovering. I looked up from the bag I was unpacking. She'd been watching me sort my various supplies and textbooks. "If you can change the room so drastically to fit both of us, do you think you could help me change the decorations?"

I smiled. "Sure, Bella."

"Thanks."

"What color would work for the walls? Do you like silver?"

"How about red?"

"I like your thinking! And maybe change the carpet from purple to something else so it doesn't clash? How about gold?"

"Kind of lush for a teenage bedroom, don't you think?"

"Sorry, my mind was wandering to Gryffindor colors."

"Gryffindor?" Bella asked, a confused expression on her face.

"Well, they sort the kids at Hogwarts into four houses- Gryffindor is for the brave, Ravenclaw is for the intelligent, Hufflepuff for the hard-working, and Slytherin for the cunning."

"You were in Gryffindor, then?"

"Yes, I was. Am. I'm still in Gryffindor, I'm just completing all my coursework long-distance. I think it's important I get a Muggle (non-magic) degree, in case I want to start with a non-magic job, so I opted to come here."

"What about the kids from wizard families at Hogwarts? How do they get... what did you say... Muggle degrees?"

My left eye twitched. "Most Pureblood- that means they're from a long line of magic folk- families are to snobbish and prejudiced to want a Muggle degree."

"Oh. So, you're a minority, then? Being from a Muggle family?"

"Not really. I'd say the distribution is about equal with Purebloods, Muggleborns, and Halfbloods- that means that one parent is Pureblood and the other is Muggleborn or a Muggle. The whole Halfblood thing is extremely confusing, because after a certain number of generations of magic from Halfbloods marrying other Halfbloods or Purebloods, they technically become Purebloods, but the snobs I mentioned earlier are really uptight about blood purity (they think that Muggle blood is dirty), and they insist that even though in the scenario I mentioned before, they're legally Pureblooded, they still really aren't. It's all a load of crap, though. I've been told I'm the best in our year, and I'm definitely not of 'pure' blood."

"Oh. Hermione, you looked upset when I asked about them. Did they do something to you, or..."

Bella was more observant than I'd thought. "During the war- the Ministry official they sent to tell you about me didn't talk about the war, did he?" I changed course at Bella's confused look and sighed resignedly. "Okay, about seventy years ago, a Pureblood woman named Merope Gaunt fell in love with a Muggle named Tom Riddle. There were a few problems, though. First off, the Gaunts were very poor, while the Riddles were very rich. Therefore, her little crush went against all social standards of the day. Second, Merope's father and brother were a little delirious (they'd been in-breeding for generations in order to keep their blood pure, resulting in many genetic defects), and were completely against the idea of her marrying even a Halfblood, much less a Muggle. They also didn't really care for her very much at all, so they bullied her and called her a Squib (someone from a wizarding family that doesn't have magical powers), even though she was really a witch. Third, Tom Riddle didn't love Merope back.

"Now, once her father and brother got carted off to Azkaban (the wizarding prison) for attacking a Muggle- Tom Riddle, actually- Merope gained confidence and, with that confidence, her powers as a witch. She created a love potion and gave it to Tom Riddle one day as he rode past on a hot summer day. Doubtless she disguised it as plain water.

"He was immediately affected by the potion, and they had a child together- Tom Marvolo Riddle. Marvolo was Merope's father, and we believe that even though he'd hated her, it was some sort of tradition. in wizarding families. Anyways, Merope stopped giving Tom, Sr., the potion, probably thinking that since they'd had a child together he would have to stay with her, regardless of whether he loved her or not. Unfortunately for Merope, this wasn't so, and Tom went and blabbed the story to the entire town.

"She was crushed by this, so much so that either the depression squeezed all the magic out of her, or she vowed never to use magic again. Either way, without magic, she couldn't support her son, so she left him at an orphanage. Ten and a half years later, he was discovered to be a very talented wizard in the making, so Dumbledore, a professor at Hogwarts, was sent to retrieve him and help him with his supply shopping and retrieving money from his bank vault; even though Tom, Sr., left Merope behind, according to magical law (which, yes he found out about, but everyone thought he was loopy when he claimed she'd 'enchanted' him), he was still obliged to leave everything he owned to his son.

"Tom, Jr., found out that his father was a Muggle and immediately hated him for it. Young Tom was convinced that if you weren't magical, you weren't special, therefore you weren't worth anything. You see, he'd known early on that he was different, that he could do things the other kids couldn't. Even at eleven, he was learning how to control his magic to use it for revenge. Vol- Tom didn't know any spells, but he could channel it to hang a girl's rabbit, or to literally scare the shit out of a kid.

"At seventeen, after being Sorted into Slytherin at eleven (every witch or wizard gone bad in Britain has come from Slytherin, but most didn't get quite as far as Vol- Tom), he scrambled the letters in his name, Tom Marvolo Riddle, into the phrase 'I Am Lord Voldemort.' He was convinced he was the best of the best, and that he could lord over all the others.

"He became interested in these things called Horcruxes. Long story short, when you kill someone, your soul is ripped apart, and a Horcrux is any item you stick a piece of your soul in. Voldemort was convinced that seven was the most magical number of all, so he ended up having seven Horcruxes, though his soul had already been split into many hundreds of pieces, maybe even thousands. Question?"

Bella frowned. "So, why didn't they just send him to that wizard prison you mentioned earlier?"

"He got too powerful. All the Aurors- wizard version of the FBI- they sent to capture him were either maimed or killed. He had a following of dark wizards called the Death Eaters. They called themselves that because his goal was to be immortal. To conquer death completely.

"Anyway, the first murders he committed, not counting the hangings of various animals in his childhood, were Tom Riddle, Sr., and his family. Voldemort resented them, and so he dealt with them the way he knew best. He continued doing this to anyone that resisted him or didn't join him when he demanded it.

"The last two people he killed during the First War were Lily and James Potter, the parents of one of my best friends, Harry Potter. It was all because of some bogus prophesy saying that a kid just like Harry would be the one to defeat him. I say it's bogus because I don't believe in prophesy. Lily pleaded for Harry's life, begging Voldemort to take her instead. He figured, what's one murder between friends?, and killed her, then tried to kill Harry. However, when she gave her life for Harry, without trying to protect herself, it evoked an ancient magic. Dumbledore calls it love, but it's a little more complicated than that. Basically, though, that's what it was. Someone with a soul like Voldemort's couldn't possibly touch- couldn't kill- an innocent, protected soul like Harry's. The curse backfired, and Voldemort should have been killed.

"But remember the Horcruxes I told you about? Harry became the seventh one without Voldemort meaning for that to happen. His soul was so unstable from being ripped apart so many times, he couldn't help it. Voldemort's mortal body and all the pieces of his soul within that body were destroyed, but there were still seven other pieces of his soul, hiding in seven different places. Harry, a cup from Helga Hufflepuff, a diadem from Ravenclaw, Voldemort's snake pal Nagini (he could talk to snakes, and he doubtless found them more intelligent than the humans that served him), a locket from Slytherin, a cursed diary, and a ring from the Gaunts.

"Unfortunately, Harry got sent to live with his mother's sister and her family, who hated magic. They tried to abuse it out of him, and hated him for it, saying he was a freak (all this because Petunia was jealous of her sister Lily as a child). He didn't even know about magic until he was eleven and started at Hogwarts. Anyway, at the end of our fourth year, about a month before I saw you last, Voldemort's supporters found a way to give him a body again."

"So that's why you seemed so tense?"

"Exactly. Anyway, the Ministry of Magic, Britain's magical government, didn't want to believe that Voldemort, out of fear called You-Know-Who, or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named by the older folks, had returned, because that would like acknowledging that we were all being sent to Hell. Anyway, in our fifth year, there was a huge fight at the Ministry between Voldemort and Co. and Harry and Co. and, after the Minister himself finally witnessed Voldemort, he had to acknowledge that he was back. That was the beginning of the Second War. After that, everyone believed it. In our sixth year there was a small battle at Hogwarts, and Dumbledore was killed. Harry, Ron, and I didn't go back for our seventh year. Two reasons. First, we needed to destroy all the Horcruxes so that if Harry got Voldemort with a killing curse, it would be for good. Second, Hogwarts was in the hands of Death Eaters. There was no way Harry could go back until the war was over.

"We destroyed all the Horcruxes except Harry, and he sacrificed himself for us, in order to destroy the Horcrux within him. He also, in effect, evoked the same magic his mother did when she sacrificed herself for him, so none of Voldemort's spells over us to silence us or anything were lasting. It was horrible and amazing at the same time. However, since Harry hadn't defended himself, he could make the choice to come back, and he did. Long story short, he killed Voldemort.

"This past year, we've been finishing up our seventh year along with the others that either dropped out or didn't come back to Hogwarts at all two years ago."

"Wow. So what you're telling me is, a seventeen-year-old boy defeated the most evil wizard ever?"

I nodded. "But it was before that, that Harry beat Voldemort as well. In first year, when we were just eleven, Voldemort attached his soul to that of one of our professors, and Harry beat him. In second year, the diary Horcrux I mentioned earlier started possessing Ron's little brother, Harry's girlfriend now, Ginny, and Ron and Harry had to save her from the basilisk- I couldn't help; I'd been petrified by it earlier in the year. In third year, Harry's godfather Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban. He'd been put there for murder, but he really hadn't killed anyone. Harry had to fight off about a hundred Dementors- big cloaked things that suck the happiness out of you and can eat your soul- at once. In fourth year, Barty Crouch, Jr., tried to kill Harry, disguised as one of our professors. Crouch submitted Harry into a tournament for seventeen-year-olds only, and Harry came close to dying many times. Crouch was working for Voldemort, and then at the end, Harry and a boy named Cedric Diggory got transported to a graveyard, where Harry and Cedric witnessed Voldemort's supporters returning him to a bodily form. Voldemort then killed Cedric. Harry had to fight Voldemort and find a way back, holding Cedric's body all the while. The Ministry denied that Voldemort, or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, according to them, was back, and called Harry and Dumbledore loopy.

"It was in our fifth year that we finally took a stand. We got an absolutely terrible teacher, she kind of looked like a toad, and she didn't let us use magic in Defense Against the Dark Arts class. She just gave us the theory of it. I came up with the illegal idea that we should start having classes for those that actually wanted to learn how to do the spells. We started having meetings, and by the end of the year, we all were much better. However, Voldemort knew how to bait Harry, so he created a vision of Sirius being held captive, and we all went to rescue him, and it ended up being a hoax, and... Sirius died. It was terrible. On the bright side, the Ministry could no longer deny the existence of Voldemort, not when so many had seen him in the Department of Mysteries.

"In sixth year, Dumbledore told Harry about the Horcruxes- before then, Harry didn't even know what one was. They spent the year sifting through memories, trying to find possible Horcruxes. At the end of the year, after they found one together, Dumbledore got pushed off the Astronomy tower without his wand, resulting in- in his death. After then, Harry, Ron, and I were fugitives. Harry was for the obvious reasons, Ron was for being friends with Harry and for believing that Muggleborns were just as good as Purebloods, and I was for being friends with Harry and for, you know, being a Muggleborn- or Mudblood, as they called me. Dirty blood.

"You know the story from there. It's like once a year, Harry ended up going against Voldemort, like some sort of sick, sadistic tradition."

"But how was Sirius Black related to Voldemort and the Death Eaters?"

"Oh! James and Lily went into hiding because they knew their lives were in danger, and everybody thought that Sirius was the one that turned them in to Voldemort, when really it was their other friend, Peter Pettigrew. So Sirius, crazed with grief, tried to kill Peter, but Peter was an unregistered Animagi, meaning he could turn into a rat, so he cut off his own finger so they would think the rest of him had been blown up; he then scurried off in rat form, and Sirius was delirious. He ended up killing about twenty Muggles in the process of trying to explode the rat. So basically, it was Voldemort's fault he was in the situation. And his own, but imagine how you would feel if you lost

someone you care deeply about, and magnify that by about twenty."

She nodded her head slowly.

"But you asked before if they did anything to me. During the war, I was nearly killed by Bellatrix Lestrange, Sirius Black's deranged cousin, one of Voldemort's top servants. I was also nearly raped and eaten alive by Fenrir Greyback, a werewolf that was allowed to wear Death Eater robes for the services he provided to the Dark side. Add to that the general hatred between the Light and Dark, and you can easily see why I might look upset. Oh, and did I mention that I rode a dragon after Harry, Ron, and I escaped from robbing the most protected bank in Britain? Voldemort had hidden one of the Horcruxes, Hufflepuff's cup, in Bellatrix's vault, so I had to pose as her, and we got found out, and they sent the dragon on us. We had to jump off it, into a lake."

She laughed. "That's... amazing!"

"Sometimes I have nightmares about those days. In the final battle, I had to fight all sorts of creatures, and I still feel guilty. The Dark side used giants, werewolves, vampires, wizards, every magical creature under the sun and moon. The only real thing we had that they didn't was the centaurs. I had to kill wizards, werewolves, all the rest. I feel ill just thinking about it. I'm a horrible, horrible, person, Bella!"

"No, you're not," soothed Bella. "You did what you had to do to keep others from being killed."

"But-"

"You did the right thing."

I paused. "Thank you. For saying that."

"What is it with mythical creatures and thinking they're bad?" I heard her mutter to herself. As I drifted to sleep that night, I couldn't help but think about the war. Bella was the first person I'd told so much; usually it was Harry that did the explanations.

My dreams were filled with images of death. Fred, Sirius, Dumbledore, Tonks, Remus, Cedric. All of the masked Death Eaters I'd killed or injured. All of the vampires, werewolves, and giants.

All of them dead.


	3. Attends

**Last Chance**

Chapter 3

I woke early in the morning to the smell of bacon. It didn't smell quite as good as the food at Hogwarts, but what human can emulate the taste of a house-elve's cooking?

I got dressed quickly and stumbled down the stairs. Much to my surprise, it was Bella in the kitchen, making breakfast, not Charlie. She noticed my dumbstruck look and laughed.

"Charlie offered to make us breakfast, but unless you want an excuse to miss school the first day, and knowing you, you wouldn't miss it for the world, I wouldn't eat anything he made. He left about ten minutes ago; he has to get to work early. Lately there have been... animal attacks."

Bella said the last words slowly, as though she had to think to make sure she was saying the right thing. I looked up at her, eyebrows raised.

"Okay, spill."

"What?"

"Spill. I know you know about something weirder than a witch. Whatever it is, it's a mythical creature, and it's probably whatever is causing these attacks."

"Why do you think-"

I sighed loudly, cutting her off. "Bella, it's logic. I just took what you said yesterday, thought it over, and added to it the new information. That's the conclusion I came to."

She looked at me, eyebrows knit together. "You're right. It's a mythical creature." She paused. "Which ones do you think are good, which do you think are bad?"

"Me, personally, or the majority of witches and wizards?"

"You, personally."

"Well, I think that all types of creatures have the capacity to be good, some just don't have the will, or the motivation," I said slowly. "That being said, I think that whatever is causing these attacks isn't a good creature. But that doesn't make sense, because... well, I don't know what you'd do, but you're smart. If you knew it was a dark creature that was attacking, you wouldn't want your dad and the other policemen out there trying to catch it. You'd make something up to keep him close while you thought of what to do next. So either I'm completely wrong, or... or you have a plan. You know that they're safe, somehow. Bella, help me out."

"I promised I wouldn't tell," she said quietly.

"So it's capable of communicating with you. That removes about ninety percent of mythical creatures that I can think of. You asked me which I thought were good and bad, so it's probably something bad. I highly doubt that a giant could go unspotted, and neither would any form of pixie, dark _or_ light. And pixie attacks couldn't possibly be disguised as animal attacks, anyway. It's a messy killer. It's messy... I think it's either a werewolf or a vampire. But werewolves only transform at the full moon- unless they're type two. So it could still be a werewolf. But... damn. I'd have to see the bite marks to be able to tell which it is." I looked back up at her. "Am I on the right track, or am I making a complete fool of myself?" I really wanted to figure this out. It was a nice break from the usual, 'figure this out or the world will end' consequences.

"No, you're on the right track," she said quickly. "Hey, I've got to get ready. Edward will be here to pick us up in about five minutes. Make sure you have everything, all right?"

I nodded. I made no move to go get my things, though. I was too busy mulling over the issue at hand to worry about my bag. So it was either a vampire or a werewolf, and Bella didn't feel safe discussing it. I heard a car pull in the driveway, and I jogged up to where I'd set out everything I would need the night before. Bella passed me on the way down the stairs, and I didn't want to make her and Edward wait, so I summoned my things instead of running all the way up, and ended up going out the door the same time Bella did.

I climbed in the back seat, trying as hard as possible to make it seem like I wasn't there. I glanced at the boy in front- Edward, I assumed- and had to do a double-take. He had almost-black eyes, he had skin like snow, and he was exceedingly handsome.

Was he a... I felt a prod at my mind, and I put up some attempted barriers- Harry wasn't the only one that had tried to learn Occlumency. As he did the classes with Snape, I would read books about it and try to hide my mind whenever I could. If there was ever a time to test how well I'd learned, it was now.

The prodding soon stopped, and I let down my barriers, only to be attacked with a new onslaught of mental attacks. I tried again to put up barriers, but they soon collapsed, and I concentrated on one single thought: _Edward, if that's you doing this, and I'm pretty sure it is, stop before I'm forced to do something more forceful than the crappy mental walls you just broke down._

Once again, he left my mind. Once again, within fifteen seconds of leaving, he returned. "I asked for you to stop." I whispered it quietly enough that only someone with extraordinary hearing- vampire hearing- would be able to hear me. I didn't fancy turning out to be wrong about the perpetrator and looking like an idiot.

"Did you say something, Hermione?" Bella asked.

I feigned innocence. "Hm? No. Should I have?"

"No, I just thought I saw..." She decided to change the subject. "What electives are you taking? I'll bet they looked at your electives from your school in England, but some of them weren't available."

I grinned. "I would say not. I think I'll try French. Maybe Drama. What about you?"

"They don't offer French here; there's not enough demand. And as for my electives... not Drama." I laughed, and so did Edward. The idea of Bella being onstage in front of an audience, in the spotlight, was rather unlikely. "Spanish and Gym."

"What are you taking, Edward?"

"Spanish, Gym, and not Drama. Whatever Bella is taking, generally."

It was silent for a few minutes, and I began to think over the possibilities of what Edward was. Vampire, or... vampire. So he was definitely a vampire. But was he the one causing the attacks? I didn't have time to think any further, because we pulled into the Forks High parking lot.

"Do you want to go ahead and register for your classes?" Bella gestured towards a building I assumed was the main office.

"Sure. I'll see you guys later?"

"You can sit with us at lunch. We'll be with the rest of my family. We're kind of hard to miss, in a school this small," Edward said. I was surprised he would make an offer like that.

"All right, then. See you, Bella. See you, Edward." I turned and walked into the main office.

"You must be Hermione Granger!" There was a plump redheaded woman behind the counter, and I had to remind myself that no Muggle school, and none of its staff, would ever bear any resemblance to Hogwarts and its professors.

"Erm, yes. I was wondering, how do I sign up for my electives?"

"Right. I'll just fill out this sheet, then put your choices into the computer. Your foreign language options are Latin and Spanish."

"Latin." It would be easy to learn. Most of the spells I'd learned were based on Latin words, so I'd already had plenty of experience in that field.

"Okay, let me get that in... As for your other elective, at your former school you completed all the required credits for fitness, so you don't have to take Gym if you don't want to. Instead, you can take Concert Band, Marching Band, Art, Typing, or Computer Tech." I didn't have to take Gym? Thank Merlin I had McGonagall on my side.

"I'll do Computer Tech."

"Your academics are taking up all the rest of your schedule. Do you want to look it over before I make it permanent?"

I nodded, and she handed me the printout.

"I don't mean to be a bother, but right now I'm not taking a Literature class. Could I take one instead of Language Arts?"

"I'm sorry, honey, but you still need every LA credit you can get." Oh, so McGonagall could fix me up so I didn't have to do Gym, but I still needed English? And I couldn't take Literature. Distressed, I looked over my schedule for an emtpy spot.

"I have study hall for third period. Could I take Literature then?"

She looked uneasy. "I don't know. That class is all seniors, and you're a junior. I don't know if that's allowed, Hermione."

It was odd to be called 'Hermione,' and not 'Miss Granger.' "I can handle it. I read all the time, and I can do the work." She still looked uncertain. "I have an idea. How about you let me take the class, but if I don't keep a passing average, then I'll have to drop it."

"I have never seen a student so set on taking an extra class."

I forced a smile and shrugged. "That's me."

"All right, I'll put it in. Here's your final schedule. If you ever have a problem, or you want to change classes, just come right back here. And remember, I'll be keeping a watch on that grade. Now, you better hurry. First period starts in four minutes."

"Right. Thank you!"

She smiled. "No problem."

I rushed to building seven, which was surprisingly easy to find (I don't know why I felt like I would have trouble- I survived Hogwarts' changing portraits, moving staircases, and, you know, Peeves), for Mr. White's Calculus class. Thankfully, I made it a little early, which gave me time to get assigned a textbook and find a seat without the entire class eyeing me. We got to sit wherever we liked, thank Merlin, so I found a seat in the back of the classroom, where I would (hopefully) avoid attracting attention.

The other students slowly filed in, and as everyone grabbed a seat, it seemed that the desk on my left (the desks were grouped in pairs) was destined to be the last empty one. I thought for sure I would have to say something (our partner, the person we sat with, would grade our papers and study with us before tests if we wanted help), but about two and a half seconds before the bell, the final student walked in.

"Jasper, you were barely on time. You need to start coming in earlier."

The boy- Jasper, I assumed- nodded silently.

Mr. White sighed. "All right, get in a seat. I think the last one today is next to Hermione."

"Thank you, sir."

Jasper smiled at me as he sat down, and although I just smiled back, on the inside, I was freaking out. I was afraid, because he was obviously a vampire. Was he part of the family Edward was talking about? I wasn't sure whether I wanted him to be or not. I could see faint remnants of scars on his arms, and suddenly my fear was replaced with sympathy. Those were the same types of scars Remus had always had. I knew how Remus had gotten his; I didn't want to know how Jasper had gotten scarred so badly. I felt a deep sadness just thinking of Remus. Thinking of Remus led to thinking of Tonks, and that led to thinking of all the others.

I switched my focus to the teacher, and he told us that today was our lucky day, because he'd lost his lesson plans, so instead of working, we would play some games. One boy in the row in front of me, the teacher called him Eric, politely informed the teacher that he had seen the plans on the desk, next to the computer.

The entire class laughed as Mr. White again told us, this time more forcefully, that he had _lost_ the lesson plans for the day. It took a while for Eric to catch on to what he meant.

This was going to be a long school year.


	4. Laughs

**A/N: Wow. Three months since the last update. Sorry about that, guys! Please don't rip my head off! Now that I'm back in school and have a completely normal schedule with plenty of writing time in the afternoon, I should be updating a lot more often. If I don't, PM me and cuss me out, okay? And kudos to Alana84 for pointing out a few things I probably should clarify. I had to tweak the year she was born for the story to even be plausible. Yes, Hermione's explanation of the wizarding world was rather lengthy, but just the explanation is rather a large plot point later :) And finally, she shares the Calculus class with Jasper because she took Arithmancy at Hogwarts and that counted as a Trig credit. Oh, and the reason Eric is in there is because Eric is a dork like me who doubles up on math credits every year he can fit it into his schedule. So she's advanced in Math and Lit, but not English, or any of the other subjects (though, yes, she has all her gym credits). This fic is set in Hermione's seventh year, in the book Twilight, about a week after Bella figures out Edward (right when they start dating, after the incident in Port Angeles, but before the infamous baseball game). The month is September (even though yes, I am aware that Bella moves in March- that wouldn't fit with my plot, and its a fanfiction, dammit, so I can screw up what I need to, haha).**

**Woo! Hope that explained everything to everybody! Here we go...**

"All right, since I _forgot_ the lesson plans," Mr. White began, with an amused look at Eric, "I think we'll play some magical funtime games." I grinned. "Let's get into groups of three."

Jasper scooted his desk over near mine. "Want to work together?"

"Sure," I said. "Who's the third person?"

"I'll join your group," said a round-faced girl. "I'm Hannah Williams," she said, and smiled widely at me. She reminded me a bit of Hannah Abbot, and it made me nostalgic for Hogwarts. Jasper looked at me oddly, and I nodded my head towards Mr. White.

"We're going to have a hangman championship. Which groups want to face off first?" He looked around, and the room was dead silent. "Whoa, whoa, not all at once, here. How about... Hannah's group and Will's group. Come on up. Team Hannah on the left side of the board, Team Will on the right." He went on to explain the rules of the tournament. The word had to be titles of books, television series, or movies.

"Which team will go first?" Will's team began to stare off into space, so I stepped up. Mr. White handed me the dry erase marker and gestured towards the whiteboard.

"Go crazy. Just remember the rules."

I thought back through all the books I'd read at Hogwarts, trying to pick one that I could possibly pass off as Muggle books. After a few seconds, I thought of one of the required pieces of reading- The Odyssey- for Mythology in the Real World (one of my electives for the Hogwarts year). I drew the gallows and the correct number of spaces. Mr. White settled down behind his desk and began grading papers.

The other team ran out of body parts before they guessed it correctly, and when I wrote it in, Jasper grinned widely. "Good choice," he said quietly, and I smiled back.

"Thanks."

"All right, who wants to keep score?" Eric's hand shot up, and his expression vaguely reminded me of that of a puppy, eager to please. "Eric, give Hermione's team a point. Now it's Will's team's turn."

A boy with messy, dirty blonde hair stepped up and wrote a rather long title on the board. I squinted at it. We lost the round.

The rest of the class period continued in a similar manner, with our team eventually coming in second place. As our prize, we got free late passes so we could be up to thirty minutes late for class without penalty. I decided I would probably like Mr. White's class.

"So, what do you have next?" I asked Jasper as everybody filed out of Mr. White's classroom.

"Gym. You?"

"Computer tech. See you at lunch."

"See you."

Computer Tech was probably my least favorite class. I could type well enough, but, seeing as I was at Hogwarts- where computers didn't work- for most of the year, I didn't have much experience with computers. It was all Greek to me. Actually, I know a bit of Greek, so it was more... all Russian to me.

The class seemed to drag on. Several times I got offers from the girl next to me, Lydia Gleaves, for help, but it didn't work well. She was just a little too advanced to take the time to tutor me on the beginners' aspects of it all. It was like me trying to teach Crabbe or Goyle advanced History of Magic.

Finally, it was lunch. I followed the crowd to the small cafeteria, and marveled at the difference in size between the Great Hall and- this. I picked a few (disgusting-looking) things from the lunch line and searched for Jasper, Edward, Bella, and the others.

I saw them on the far wall, away from the rest of the students. Hannah asked if I wanted to sit with her, but I said no, I already told somebody I'd sit with them. Perhaps tomorrow.

I could feel all eyes on me as I made my way to the Cullens' table. It was awkward. I nearly tripped a few times, but managed to make it to their table without injuring myself (or others). I smiled when Bella and another girl scooted apart to allow me to sit with them. Behind me, I heard the conversation level slowly rise back to normal.

Suddenly, the girl turned to me. "Hi, I'm Alice. We're going to be great friends, I just know it." I saw Jasper grin at Alice, and Edward rolled his eyes before chuckling.

"You really ought to give her some time to adjust to it," Edward said.

I raised my eyebrows. "Adjust to what?"

"Oh, you know. Eating with vampires." His eyes twinkled when I looked shocked. "Oh, don't tell me you didn't know I knew you knew. You've known since the car ride, haven't you?"

I nodded slowly before returning to chewing my hamburger. It tasted fake. "Yes, but how did you know I knew?"

"Edward can read minds," Bella said, speaking up. I had a sudden idea. I concentrated on putting up a mental block, like I had read in Occlumency books.

"Can you now?" I asked.

Edward stared at me silently for a moment, then shook his head in frustration. "How do you do that? You did that this morning, too."

I smiled wryly. This was fun.

**A/N: Sorry for the late night (well, late night in my time zone) update, my stepbrother had his middle school's open house tonight and I had to go :/ Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Remember: favorites and alerts say a lot, but reviews can tell me up to a thousand characters! Read and review, people. It means a lot to me :)**


	5. Surprises

**A/N: Well, that onslaught of reviews has inspired me to write another chapter for this fic. Reviews make me write faster- remember that, haha. But in all seriousness, thanks for the bunches of reviews. One of the best parts about posting my writing is hearing what other people think, and yet another good point was brought up by Alana84. This was that Jasper is a little OOC. Well, I'll explain to you what I explained to her; if you were a wizard and you're transformed, you will crave magical blood, and if you are a Muggle and you're transformed (like Jasper), you will crave Muggle blood. Jasper is extremely excited to meet someone whose blood he doesn't want to drain, though he doesn't know the reason (Edward is the only one that knows she's a witch- along with the Swans, of course). Like I told her, I have a bad habit of establishing things in my mind, and not actually in the story. If you ever are wondering about something like that, or think I should know something, just follow Alana84's lead and _tell me_! Anyways, I think you'll like the little surprise I threw in about halfway through this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Not making any money of this stuff. Just a thirteen year old American gal writing for fun. And glory. But no money. Meh- I don't own anything but the manner in which these characters were thrown together, and technically not even that. Any original characters I put in, I own.**

"You still haven't told me how you manage to do that," Edward said as we filed out of the cafeteria. "Please explain."

"I can't," I said, reveling in the fact that I knew something he didn't.

"Does it have something to do with you being capable of magic?" Edward asked, and Bella turned bright red.

"Well, actually, yes," I said off-handedly, and turned to Bella.

"Bella, did you happen to tell him? Or did he read your mind?"

"I can't read her mind, the same way I sometimes can't read yours." Edward interjected. I raised my eyebrows at Bella.

"Yeah, except that Hermione does it on purpose," she said pointedly. "And no, I didn't tell him. No need to worry about your secret."

"It was actually you that told me," Edward said, and he smiled, presumably at my expression of confusion. "I was waiting outside the house for Bella this morning, and I happened to get a glimpse into your mind, and hear a few things about your life."

"Oh. Well..." To change the subject, I asked what class each of them had next. Emmett was off to Business Management (a strange course for him to take, but he needed the credits), Bella and Edward were going to Biology, Alice to Chemistry, Rosalie to Home Ec, and Jasper and I were headed for Lit. I said bye to them and rushed to my locker.

"So, I saw you getting friendly with Edward Cullen," a girl named Jessica Stanley said, and slammed a locker a few down from mine. "He's taken, so you can just back the hell off."

"No, I'm not interested. Are you trying to make it seem like he's taken by you?" I asked in a low voice, and she visibly paled. "Because, I thought you knew, I'm his girlfriend's cousin. And I could tell her that you're acting like Edward is yours. I think both Bella and Edward would be very upset if they knew you said that to me." _Resorting to threats already, eh, Hermione?_ asked a voice in my head that sounded a lot like Ron.

"No- I just- I was- I was sticking up for her."

"Even though she was there the entire time, watching us?" I questioned, and shut my locker as well. "I'm going to class."

"British bitch," I heard her mutter as I walked away, and I turned and smiled. "I know. It's just a little survival skill I've picked up."

"So, what books are we reading?" I asked as I slid into the seat next to Jasper, waiting for the teacher to come in so I could get my books.

"Romeo and Juliet and Animal Farm. We were going to do Hamlet, but we have a new teacher this year that decided not to. I think you might know him," Jasper said, with a small smile gracing his features. "He has some of the same... qualities as you."

I decided not to ask, assuming I wouldn't get an answer. When I walked into the room, I received the shock of my life. There, standing before me, in the flesh, was none other than George Weasley. The lack of attraction to his blood must have been what Jasper was talking about when he said the teacher and I shared qualities. George grinned when my jaw dropped, and motioned me over.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered fiercely.

"I got sent to make sure you didn't..." he trailed off, unsure of whether to continue, I supposed.

"Didn't what?" I asked angrily.

He sighed. "Harry and the others were afraid you were going to get depressed, and you might do something drastic. Ginny was really worried when she noticed that you weren't eating. You _have_ eaten today, haven't you?"

"Yes, I've eaten. Twice," I added in exasperation. "But why you? You aren't exactly the literature-teacher type."

"Well, when they told me I should do it, they kind of assumed I would be able to find another position. Anyways, Hermione," he said at a normal level, "here are your books. You can ask somebody else for help if you need it. Oh, and if you ever need someone to talk to about the war, or your parents," he said, quiet again, "Angelina and I are here for you. I know it's hard to deal with. That's why we followed you over."

"Thanks," I murmured, and took a seat next to Jasper, who was grinning like an idiot.

"Oh, shut up," I said to him, and he laughed quietly.

"I didn't say anything."

The class was interesting, if a bit easy. We covered quite a few things I already knew, but George made it funny. I would have to introduce him to the Swans and Cullens. As we left the classroom, Jasper asked what class I had next.

"World History with Philipp."

He nodded and smiled. "Alice is in that class, too. It's usually for freshman, but I guess you're both missing that credit."

I wondered how, after being basically the only one in my house to pass History of Magic yearly at Hogwarts, I was missing this credit. I would have to ask Professor McGonagall next time I owled her my work.

"Hello-" he checked the paper in his hand- "Hermione. Here's the class syllabus, it's the same one I gave everybody at the beginning of the month. Here's the first set of notes, I'd appreciate if you could get these filled in so I can test you and see what you know. I use these instead of traditional notes so that I can go a little faster through the lessons." I could tell he was a very efficient man when it came to class.

**A/N: Sorry for the abrupt ending, but (not only am I super-excited about updating again) I need to actually get some work done- you know, that thing I get paid for? Yeah, I wasn't too sure about it either, but turns out it's pretty important. Pretty damn important.**


	6. Performs

**A/N: Yay! I'm finally updating! Can I get a w00t w00t? (You: W00T W00T!") I am so happy that f***ing website is finally DONE AND FINISHED AND _NO LONGER MY PROBLEM OR CONCERN_.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own it. Meh.**

The bell rang to signal the end of fourth period, and I darted out as quickly in an attempt to avoid Mike Newton. He seemed sweet, but almost obsessive about talking to me, about me, just anything related to me. It was almost creepy.

Emmett and Rosalie were waiting at my locker. Emmett looked excited; Rosalie, not so much. She was looking me over, as though sizing me up, and when she glared at me- much like she had at lunch, but a bit more openly- I glared right back. Merlin, the last thing I needed was to have a vampire for an enemy, but I couldn't help it.

"So, are you coming to our place?" asked Emmett.

I shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

Emmett pumped his fist, and I grinned. He reminded me a lot of the Weasley twins.

"What are you so excited about?" I asked, laughing softly at his antics.

"We all get to see you do magic," he whispered. I shook my head, and he frowned. "Well, don't we?"

I bit my lip. "I'm not totally sure. I mean, there are laws against performing magic in front of Muggles, but then those laws are void if they knew before the incident that you were a witch or wizard, so... I'll have to owl- no, I'll Floo- my friend Kingsley Shacklebolt. He's Minister of Magic, I would think he should know if that's allowed."

Rosalie spoke quietly. "Well, it should be, since we already know. And what's a Muggle?"

"A completely non-magical being."

"Being, or _human_ being?" Rosalie questioned, and I had to admire her logic.

"Just being, I believe. Like I said, I'll Floo the Minister and sort it out."

Emmett groaned. "But that will take forever!"

I chuckled. "No, it won't. I just have to hook a fireplace up to the Floo network and see if he's in there. At worst, I'll just have to ask Percy."

"Fireplace?" Emmett questioned.

"Oh, that's right. You lot wouldn't have one, being..." I nodded slowly, more to myself than them. "Well, once we get to your place, I'll Apparate in."

.-=:=-. .-=:=-. .-=:=-. .-=:=-. .-=:=-.

"Oh, Minister!" I cried in a sing-song voice.

The tall, dark (I'll leave it to someone else's discretion as to whether or not Kingsley is handsome) man looked up from his paperwork. "Hermione! Shouldn't you be across the world right about now? I thought you left for America. Were there problems?"

I shook my head. "Not exactly. But I have a few questions."

"Go on," he said, nodding.

"What's America's policy on accidentally showing Muggles magic?"

"I hope this is only out of curiosity." He cleared his throat. "I believe it's quite similar to our own. The only major difference is that there, small jinxes or hexes may be used in front of Muggles. For example, a mother could reprimand her child with a small stinging hex to the hand or bum, or a man could defend a Muggle against a thief with a Confundus or something similar. This loophole has been in place since shortly after the Salem witch hunts, right before witches and wizards of America decided to go into permanent hiding."

"Thank you. What about showing other- creatures?"

His eyes narrowed. "Such as?"

"Oh, I don't know," I said off-handedly. "Werewolves, vampires, pixies."

"Well, if they are already aware of our existence, this poses no problem. However, if they aren't already aware, then you have to take certain precautions- like gauging how they will react, making sure your actions won't put you in danger. However, it's perfectly legal."

I smiled. "Thanks so much, Kingsley. I don't know what we'd all do without you. Oh, wait- yes, I do. We'd fall into chaos and have another Dark Lord randomly pop up somewhere."

"Well, let's hope that doesn't happen. Now, get back where you came from," he added.

.-=:=-. .-=:=-. .-=:=-. .-=:=-. .-=:=-.

"Good news!" I sang out when I Apparated in front of the Cullen home (it was both unlucky and uncourteous to Apparate directly into a house). I sent a loud thought out for Edward's benefit proclaiming my ability to legally perform magic around them.

Alice opened the door almost immediately. "Emmett has been dying for you to get here. All he's been talking about is seeing some magic."

"Well, he's in luck. I spoke to the Minister, and it's completely legal!" I said gleefully. Of course, even if it hadn't been legal, I probably would have shown them anyway, but it made me feel much safer knowing that my actions were protected by the law.

Alice led me to the living room. Edward was sitting with Bella on the loveseat- arm around her, I noted happily. Emmett was in a recliner with Rosalie perched on the side, and Jasper (and presumably Alice, before I interrupted) was on the couch beside a blonde man, whom looked to be in his late twenties, and a Hispanic-looking woman of about the same age. And, if I may say, Jasper looked particularly dashing. Edward must have heard this thought (or perhaps seen the accompanying mental picture), because I could have sworn I saw him scrunch his face in disgust.

"So, are you going to show us some magic?" Emmett asked excitedly. The others each either rolled their eyes or laughed at his eagerness.

"Sure. What would you like to see?" I asked as I pulled my wand out from my purse (the same purse, in fact, that I had transfigured the year before to become infinitely large on the inside, but still small on the outside).

He shrugged. "Do something cool." Again, amusement from the rest of his family.

"All right. Er, _Wingardium Leviosa_!" I said, pointing my wand at the coffee table. It slowly began to levitate towards the ceiling, and when I gently set it back down, Emmett demanded to see more.

"What are some of the spells you used in the war?" Bella asked.

Jasper perked up. "What war?"

I blushed, not yet having informed the Cullens of my military past. After explaining the basics of the war, much like I had to Bella, Emmett commanded me to show some of the more difficult pieces of magic.

**A/N: Will update again soon. Sorry for the delays, but they aren't likely to go away, what with my dad putting a time limit on how much time I'm allowed to spend on my computer.**

**Oh, and I need to ask something. What are some suggestions for names of original character Death Eaters? Just the random question of the update. **


	7. Explains a Bit More

**A/N: I listened to 'Everything's Gonna Be Okay' by Brittani Louise Taylor while I was writing this chapter. It's an amazing song, so much better than what it's based on ('Party in the USA' by Miley Cyrus). It makes me cry- albeit, this is not a difficult feat- and touches me sincerely. Find the video on Youtube and comment for her awesomeness. Brittani is a wonderful artist and a beautiful person, both inside and out, and that's why I'm plugging her song and video. That, and Shane Dawson is in the video. But that's beside the point.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, I would have a British accent. I don't have one, but I can do a damn good impression. I don't think this counts, though. If I owned Twilight, I... uhm, I would be Stephenie Meyer. Which I'm not. Meh.**

"All right, how about this, Emmett: I'll let you watch me do my homework for Hogwarts." He was being rather insistent that I show him more magic.

Rosalie wrinkled her nose in distaste. "There's a school named after a pig's zits?"

I nodded. "And, believe it or not, the village nearby is called Hogsmeade. There's a pub there called the Hog's Head. It's a pretty shady place."

"I would imagine," she said dryly.

I ignored this comment, and turned to Emmett. "That all right with you?"

Emmett smiled brightly. "What do you do at Hogwarts? Necromancy?"

I had to cough to cover up a laugh. "No. My courses this year are Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, Charms, Arithmancy, Astronomy, Muggle Studies, History of Magic, Religious Applications to Magic, and... oh, what was it?" I sighed. "One second. _Accio_." My course list for Hogwarts flew out of my backpack and into my hands. "Oh, of course! Ancient Runes. That's all of them, I believe," I said, scanning the list quickly.

"Religious Applications to Magic?" Carlisle, the blonde man, questioned. "That must be very interesting."

I nodded happily. "Ever since Catholicism came about around the time of the Dark Ages, Muggles have believed we are evil. Of course, what they don't take into consideration is that in the Bible, God says not to believe in those who say they have magic _stronger_ than He is. _Those_ are the evil ones, not just wizards in general. Besides, the ones He referred to were generally just liars that were trying to make money off simple illusions," I said with disgust.

He smiled. "You certainly seem to like studying it."

"Oh, I like all my classes. Except Divination- sight of the future, my arse," I said, rolling my eyes. Alice frowned, and Bella giggled. "What?"

"Alice can see the future," Bella said, still smiling.

"Oh!" I blushed a deep red. "I didn't mean to offend. It's just, our Divination teacher was rather... fake."

Alice nodded. "That's all right. I've met my fair share of phonies as well."

"Well, she wasn't completely phony. Like I told you, she's made a few prophecies. It's just that she seems to think of predicting one student's death each year as entertainment, or a chance to show off. Mystical bunch of-"

I was cut off from saying something I would undoubtedly regret saying by an owl pecking at the window. Esme, the Cullen matriarch, looked startled, but nodded for me to let it in.

"Oh, it's from Harry and Ron!" I squealed. I tore the envelope open (much to the vampires' and Bella's great amusement) and unfolded the parchment.

_Hermione_

_I hope this letter finds you. It's been less than three days, but Hogwarts already feels pretty different without everyone's favourite know-it-all here. One big difference is that I'm pretty sure Ron and I are coming close to failing Defense. I don't know how we're managing to do that, but somehow. It's weird, you know? We've always just kind of copied off you, and now we can't do that any more (unless you want to send us copies of all your essays?). No wonder Ron and I are practically failing DADA._

_How are things over in the States? Are people treating you well? They'd better be, or The Boy Who Voldemort Just Couldn't Manage to Hurry Up and Kill and his best friend Weasel Boy will come over and kick their arses. I'm not joking, if you have any problems, tell us, okay?_

_Last thing before I let Ron use my quill (his are all missing): do you think we could visit during Christmas (or you could visit us?)_

_Can't wait until June (or Christmas!?) to see you._

_Harry_

There were a two more letters in the envelope. The Cullens sat silently as I read each of these over as well.

_Dear Hermione,_

_I miss you. Hogwarts isn't the same without you here to let us cheat off your essays. Would you believe that new Potions professor, Barnsworth, assigned four feet of parchment on 'the effects of adding different essentials to various types of Potions?' She gets on my nerves... I might just Avada Kedavra her one day._

_And before you even say anything (or think anything, I guess), I was only joking._

_Sort of._

_I'm sure Harry has this in his letter as well, but can you come visit over holidays? I really want to see you. I mean, we all really want to see you. _

_I found this spell that's sight-activated. Now that you've read this, you should have a bunch of roses in front of you. Hope it worked, or I'll feel like an idiot._

_Love_

_Ron_

Much to my awe, a bouquet of roses appeared in my arms. I smiled and set them down gently on the table. One of the vampires growled- I couldn't tell who- and I wondered what the problem was. The noise subsided, though, and I pulled another letter out.

_Hermione,_

_I can't wait to see you! Ron and Harry haven't shut up about you yet... Do you think we can see you over Christmas?_

_(Probably the same question they're asking, right?)_

_Oh, Luna wants to know if you've worn her present yet. Don't worry, I'll tell her you did- the truth can be our secret._

_Ginny_

I smiled at her frantic, distracted letter-writing. She probably wrote it a few seconds before Ron and Harry sent off Hedwig. The owl, as though aware she was on my mind, gave a soft hoot. Alice brought me some bread from the kitchen, and I slowly fed it to Hedwig. She perched herself on Alice's shoulder, which surprised me- generally, an animal's instincts would tell it to get away. I suppose this was another idiosyncrasy of the magical world; I hadn't felt any instinct telling me to leave the Cullens, either.

Alice smiled serenely at Hedwig; of course, she'd probably known what was going to happen. "Do you... thirst for Hedwig?" I asked, just out of curiosity.

She shook her head. "I don't."

"I don't, either," said Edward, and the others shook their heads in agreement. I made a mental note to study into that later, and Edward snorted from across the room.

"What?" I asked defensively. "It's interesting!"

"It's just that you always have to look up more on everything," he said, grinning teasingly.

Bella smiled. "Hermione's always been the family know-it-all. I used to try to get grades as high as hers, but I kind of gave up." I rolled my eyes at that. "You're unmatchable."

"That's believable," Jasper said, and laughed. "From what I've seen in class, you're a perfectionist."

"So I've been told." A memory of Professor Snape calling me an insufferable know-it-all floated to the surface, and both Edward and Jasper cringed. I suppose all the negative emotions I'd associated with the man- despite the fact that he was, in fact, for the Light- were shining through right along with the mental image.

"Who was _that_?" Edward asked. "The man with the hooked nose?"

"Professor Severus Snape. He used to teach Potions."

"He doesn't now?" Emmett asked, apparently not caring that he had no idea who we were talking about.

"He's dead. I guess I kind of left him out when I was explaining it all."

"Oh."

"He was a spy for the Light, acting as one of Voldemort's closest servants. He was a self-centered, bigoted, arrogant- I'll stop there- when it came to just about anyone but Harry and Harry's mother. He and Lily were childhood friends. He was so in love with her, but it all fell apart with one word. His Patronus- a charm that indirectly shows your true animal self- was the same as hers; it was a doe. Even Harry's _dad's_ wasn't the same as hers. His, and Harry's, was a stag. He- Snape, I mean- accidentally called her a Mudblood when they were in fifth year, after he'd been hanging around a bunch of wannabe Death Eaters for a while, and she refused to stay friends after that. He was willing to do many things to save Harry that we only realized recently. In first year, he tried to stop Professor Quirrel during the Quidditch incident. In second, he didn't say anything when he likely realized we were filching potion supplies to brew Polyjuice Potion. In third- well, he stepped between us and a werewolf. Anyways, this sort of thing continued for a few years, until Voldemort killed him- he thought he had more power than he should, basically."

"Voldemort's sounding more and more like a communist every day," Bella said. "Or, no, a fascist dictator."

I nodded. "That's almost exactly what he was. Many Muggleborns thought of him as a wizarding Hitler."

"Sounds about accurate," Alice murmured.

"What was that thing you were talking about earlier, that shows your true animal self?" Rosalie asked. "That sounds really cool."

"Oh, my Patronus!" I said happily; she was finally taking an actual interest! "Here- _Expecto Patronum_!" I pointed my wand to the ceiling and a smooth, silvery otter slid out the end. It swam gracefully through the air, and seemed especially fond of Jasper and Bella. When I returned it to my mind, the Cullens seemed very interested.

"What does that mean, that your Patronus is an otter?" Carlisle asked.

"A lot of my future colleagues say that it's because I'm so curious about everything, but you never really know. It may just be because I like swimming; my friend Neville's is a piranha."

"Well, Neville sounds badass-" Emmett started.

Esme cut him off. "Language, Emmett."

"Neville sounds very _awesome_," he corrected. I snorted. He was so like Ron, and Esme reminded me a lot of Mrs. Weasley.

"Is it difficult, to make a Patronus?" Edward asked.

I bit my lip. "Well, I don't really know. I think it's like learning to play an instrument; it just comes a lot easier to some than it does to others. Harry got his to work pretty quickly, but this... well, I've always had a bit of trouble with it, when it comes to using it in emergency situations." He nodded, taking this in. "And then there are the little things, like how easily you can make it talk." I flourished my wand and the otter swam to Rosalie and told her, in my voice, how nice her earrings were. She smiled, only a little startled. "Harry can send his over huge distances- I'll bet he could chat with me now, if he wanted- but mine only can go a few kilometers before it fades."

"So do we get to see you do your homework?" Emmett questioned.

"Oh! Right," I said, and fumbled around in my bag for my Charms book. "I must have gotten distracted by those letters."

**A/N: Yeah, I know. Bit of a delay with the update. I'll try to be better about it, but I'm switching schools and going through so much crap that it's just a bit difficult right now. Oh, and January 3rd to 10th, I'll be out of the country, with no internet (but you can probably expect at least a chapter around the 11th or 12th).**


	8. Fin SORT OF!

Wow! I was rereading the fic and came across _so_ many things I wrote wrong. Compared to what I've been trying to mold the plot into, this is… well, not what I realize I was working toward.

What I'm getting at is that I'm going to completely redo everything I've already written. I'm aware a lot of you love it the way it is (I cringe at what some of you may say when you read this), but I'm writing for me, and I'm, you know, _not_ loving it.

So… yeah. Sorry for getting your hopes up for a new chapter! I'm going to delete this fic completely in one week (Tuesday, June 29, 2010); I'm waiting to make sure that anyone and everyone who had this fic on Story Alert will get this message

I know you guys will like the new version of Last Chance just as much as- if not (hopefully) more than- this version. I mean, I already have the first chapter done, and I fuckin' love it!

_Much love,_

**PrettiaLydia**


	9. NEW VERSION LINK!

Uploaded the new chapter (go to my profile and read Watermark, or click here: .net/s/6114604/1/Watermark).

I know I'm nearly a week late with the upload, but I'll be honest, I forgot until the minute I had to leave on a trip. Just got back, so... yeah. :) Thanks for all the Story Alerts and Author Alerts. Love you all! Hope you like the new chapters.

Love,

PrettiaLydia


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